


Detour

by LambentWarg



Category: A Way Out (Video Game)
Genre: Blood, Headcanon City probably as I take game details and run with them lol, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Vincent “100 Mistakes Per Hour” Moretti, bc he sure covers that base here, mention of needles and stitches but the process isn’t detailed, mention of unhappy childhood brought on by a line Vincent can say in the hospital, the usual amount of cursing for these guys, vague Vinceo, you guys like Vincent angsting over what he’s hiding right?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 17:52:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17084945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LambentWarg/pseuds/LambentWarg
Summary: What if Leo didn’t escape custody on the steps of the hospital unscathed?





	Detour

He didn’t initially put worry toward the heavy breathing and hiss of pain he heard as Leo righted himself in the passenger seat. They _had_ just fought their way out of a hospital- _of all damn places_ \- with Leo just barely avoiding the crosshairs of multiple cops. Aches and pain were just the norm for them now.

It was when he glanced over to see Leo’s hand pull away from his side red that Vincent felt his stomach drop like an icy weight. A panicked breath hitched in his throat.

So much rode on this.

Too much rode on this.  
  
On Leo.

Vincent knew where Harvey was. He could call in a full team to shut down the bastard’s cartel ring and apprehend multiple targets. Doing so would bring the Orlov case to a conclusion and then some. It was foolhardy to continue as they were; a mere duo hopped up on the blood-boiling need for revenge by their own hand. But instead Vincent continued to rack up a litany of mistakes.

He had let himself get too deep. He had become too caught up in the wild ride of it all. And worse- _Was it worse? It didn’t_ **_feel_ ** _worse._ Vincent had become sympathetic and attached. He trusted Leo. A trust deeply rooted and borne of saving each other’s lives time and again. Of long nights spent just talking and feeling as if they had already known each other for years. He plain just wanted to be around Leo. A feat in and of itself with how Vincent generally pushed people away.

Leo Caruso was an ill-tempered, unwitting informant that turned out to be a man who had seen no other course in life to support the family he loved. He was supposed to just be a means to an end, but now Vincent _cared_ . He cared about Leo’s cares, about letting him cash in on revenge right alongside him, about his well-being.

About what Leo thought of him.

Vincent had really severely fucked everything up.

“Leo, talk to me.” Vincent’s rough voice pitched higher in worry as his attention became split between concern and driving. One hand gripped the steering wheel while the other hurriedly rummaged through his jacket pockets. “How bad is it?”

Leo yelped sharply when Vincent reached out to firmly press and hold a folded handkerchief against the wound. “ _Augh! Dammit, you di-_ ”

“ _How bad is it_ ,” Vincent repeated, voice thin with worry.

“Shit this stings, man...” Leo groaned as he sucked in a steadying breath. “Just grazed me? I think? Fuckin’ pigs, I- _ow fuck!”_ The harsh jostle of a clipped curb cut him off and Leo swatted away the hand pressed to his side to replace it with his own. “Vincent, watch the road, you ass!”

Vincent snapped his outward attention back to driving. But he couldn’t help the glances to keep tabs on Leo as he drove, visibly fretting and then insisting on a stop at a mart at the edge of town. He insisted further that Leo drop the bravado and let him check the severity of the wound before he slipped into the shop. A quick in and out where he kept his head down and grabbed first aid supplies and what necessities he could stuff underarm.

He only dared stop again once they detoured into a satisfactorily abandoned area somewhere between Five Lakes and the airstrip. He parked off the road, the car tucked between the deserted garage and main building of a condemned gas station. Another victim of the rising gas prices turned temporary refuge.

The moon and a flashlight found in the trunk of the car were their only sources of light. Leo was instructed to park himself on a crate while Vincent grabbed the first aid kit and he, to Vincent’s thankful relief, did so without a fuss. Leo shrugged out of his jacket while he waited, but the shirt under it was a stubborn struggle with the pain that seared along his side. His attempt stopped when a cautious hand gripped his arm and concerned words told him to relax.

Vincent knelt and grimaced at the wound once Leo had been helped out of his shirt. The injury no longer actively bled, but it had made an ugly mess of Leo’s side. It cut just deep enough that Vincent insisted it needed stitches. But it was superficial and wasn’t fatal and that settled their nerves. A little bit.

Idle chatter was one-sided as Vincent cleaned the wound, but his rumbled words weren’t really what distracted Leo from the discomfort. It was the warm hand held against his stomach to steady him that gripped his attention. The careful touches that wiped away blood pulled at a deeper feeling Leo had repeatedly stuffed away throughout their adventure. And that he now tried desperately to ignore.

The way Vincent started explaining the stitching process to distance himself from his own roiling thoughts was almost clinical. Leo latched onto the distraction just as readily. He nervously questioned some terms though didn’t come away from it feeling stupid once he was answered. He was thankful for that at least. It had always been nice, he thought, that Vincent didn’t talk down to him despite the clear leg-up Mr. College Grad had on him in life. The guy was sarcastic and closed off, but not condescending. And a downright relentless tease once he warmed up to you. A smile pulled at the corner of Leo’s lips as he held the flashlight and Vincent fiddled with their supplies. The smile dropped when he saw the needle.

Vincent prepared a length of suture and gripped Leo’s hand with a reassuring squeeze to stave off the guy’s visible tension.

“Easy, Leo. I’ve done this a couple times,” he soothed. “I’ve got you, buddy.” Vincent’s reassurances turned into a frown when they didn’t get the response he wanted. He let go and reached up to forcibly turn Leo’s face away from staring at the curved needle held near his side. “Stop it,” he added firmly. _Why did it have to be so damn difficult to not care._ “You’ll wind yourself up. Just concentrate on holding the flashlight steady.”

Leo felt he should have been unnerved with just how effective Vincent’s tone was at soothing him despite the undercurrents of worry he could hear in it. Still, it wasn’t quite enough to override the **nope** the needle and thread knotted into his stomach.

“How the fuck do you know all this shit,” Leo blurted out. The act of stalling needle piercing skin the first time he had truly thought to question certain skills Vincent seemed proficient in. Good in a fight, a crack shot, knowledgeable in firearms and could even disarm someone holding him at gunpoint in the blink of an eye. Now he apparently knew his way around stitching someone up? It was an unusual assortment of skills for a bean counter now that Leo thought about it. Before Vincent, he would have figured all bankers to be timid math nerds who wouldn’t know a left hook from a hole in the ground.

“ _Boy Scouts_ , remember?”

Vincent’s answer was an abruptly curt change in tone.

“Oh.”

Leo recalled now what few snippets of his past he’d wrested out of Vincent as they wandered that damn forest for days. Bored near out of his mind and wanting to think of something other than his aching feet, Leo had constantly attempted to start conversation. And, much to Vincent’s chagrin, Leo had been relentlessly nosy whenever he brought up a survival trick that aided their trek.

The sheer amount of chatter had driven Vincent up a figurative wall. And once literally when he scaled an outcropping for a moment of solitude under the claim of seeking a vantage point. But really all he had wanted was a breath of quiet air to solidify a story he could stick to.

‘She just didn’t want me around,’ Vincent had sourly said of his mother one time. _True_. That it had been scouting and working toward merit badges that had kept him busy when he didn’t want to go home and face the constant disapproval? _False_. But it was the only believable explanation Vincent could think of for things picked up during academy training.

Leo stomped down the edge of suspicion that attempted to take hold. Vincent’s knowledge had been convincingly explained then as the result of years in the scouts. So why was he questioning it now? His thoughts leaned heavy on explaining away the concerns that didn’t fully line up as just stuff Vincent picked up once he got mixed up with Harvey.

“Right... Damn man, those scouts really cover all the bases...” Leo worried his lip as he watched Vincent settle in to start the stitches. He had almost resigned himself to his fate when a memory from the fishing hole suddenly hit him. “Wait.”

Vincent paused and looked up with an aggravated sigh. He was cut off before he could complain and Leo wasn’t quite sure how to read the expression that quickly crossed Vincent’s face when hit with the fact-check. “You said you only went camping with your uncle a couple times. Isn’t camping a scout thing that happens a lot?”

“He was the scout master,” Vincent quickly answered before looking back down at the wound. Too quickly. It was like he’d been caught saying something he shouldn’t have and Leo might have thought to question it if pain hadn’t been the next thing on his mind.

“OW!” Leo tried to flinch away. An arm wrapped around his waist had been ready for the reaction and held him in place. “You didn’t warn me!”

“You would’ve stalled again.” Vincent answered, words clipped and irritated. “ _Flashlight_.”

A flare of anger was only barely contained by a heavy scowl and a rough scoff before Leo refocused the beam of light onto his side. He settled in to grouse the whole way through the process.

An air of tenseness still hung between them once Vincent announced he was done. The tone in his voice one Leo recognized as meaning he was worrying again.

Leo muttered a thank you as he watched Vincent use what remained of a water bottle to wash the blood from his hands. A long awkward pause hung between them. “Think it’ll scar,” he abruptly asked while eyeballing his side.

“Probably.”

Vincent clicked the first aid kit shut and looked up with an expression as guarded as his tone. “Watch it with getting shot, alright? I can’t do this alone.” It was a scold, technically. But there was an edge to it that seemed to imply it was meant for more than just confronting Harvey.

Vincent sighed roughly and moved to stand until a hand caught the back of his neck and kept him kneeling. His befuddled expression went wide-eyed when Leo pulled him into a hug. The arms that wrapped snugly around him rendered Vincent too shocked to react.

“I’ll kick your ass if you give me shit for being a sap, but-“ Leo pulled back from the hug near as quickly as he started it. The hand not holding the flashlight stayed perched on Vincent’s shoulder. His brow furrowed as he curtailed the words that had near spilled out. “Nevermind. You get it. Glad it’s you watching my back, man.”

The moment absolutely broke something inside Vincent, but he couldn’t let on. Couldn’t bring himself to tell the truth for what he feared the confession would ruin. He dipped his shoulder away from the contact and failed to drop the troubled look Leo knew him just enough to catch.

“Hey…” Leo started to worry he had gone too far with the brief affection. “You alright?”

“I’m fine.” He wasn’t. Vincent looked resigned. He couldn’t see a way out of the situation he had created that wouldn’t lead to grief. For an intangible thing, the guilt he carried felt immeasurably heavy. “Just thinking.” Vincent rolled his eyes with a begrudging sigh and divulged further detail when he got an imploring look. _Goddamnit_. It was almost distressing how easily Leo could get him to talk. “Going to be weird not having you around to talk my ear off once we finish this, is all,” he deflected. _I’m going to miss you._

Leo laughed and shined the light under Vincent’s chin. The grave look of the dramatic lighting matched the man’s inner turmoil, but to Leo it looked humorous. Like Vincent was in the midst of telling a spooky story over a campfire. His chipper demeanor was the opposite of Vincent’s downer.

“Hah! Like you’re gonna get rid of me. I don’t know if it’s the right way to cradle a bank’s money bags, but you can’t hold a baby worth a damn, Vince. I saw you. You need me around to show you the ropes.” Leo went from grinning widely at Vincent to a pursed lip look of consideration. “Just don’t call me _every_ time you’re up at 3am. ‘Cuz, trust me that shit’ll happen a lot.”

Vincent’s brow furrowed. He dropped his gaze when Leo’s expression turned concerned. It was by the slimmest of hairs that he didn’t break his facade then. His want to be a father ran deep and now he wanted Leo to be included. Vincent hated himself. Hated that his choices meant neither Gary nor Leo could be part of that important part of his life. The reality of how everything had to be the opposite of what he wanted tore at him from the inside out.

“Man, what’s eating you, Vince? You look-“

“ **Don’t** _,”_ Vincent snapped, warning off Leo’s train of thought _. “And don’t fucking get shot again_.” The sentiment came out far harsher than Vincent had meant, his anger spiking at feeling trapped by the situation he had created for himself. He stood abruptly.

“Geez alright.” Leo looked taken aback and watched Vincent stalk off back to the car. “Not like I planned gettin’ shot,” he muttered further to himself.

A frown decorated Leo’s face as his eyes dropped to the first aid kit that had clattered to the ground. He couldn’t help but figure the outburst was his fault. That he had made Vincent uncomfortable. _Stupid. You made it weird like a fucking idiot. Goddamnit_.

Another fucked moment added to the pile of mutual fuck ups.

Leo grimaced.

Getting back on the road would be nothing short of awkward.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!!
> 
> If you have any thoughts on this hit me up yo. ilu guys and every single view/kudos/comment is appreciated!


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